The Brief

California’s wildfire season gets worse every year for Avroh H. The smoke and grime that envelopes the 14-year-old’s home in Palo Alto heralds coughing fits and congestion that make it difficult to concentrate. Lately, he’s been prone to nosebleeds; he recently had one so severe it required cauterizing a blood vessel.

He’s also an environmentalist who feels a deep and spiritual connection with nature. His passion has escalated from starting a nature club at school to suing the Environmental Protection Agency because, he says, the fight to save the climate is a fight that ties his health to that of the natural world.

Avroh is one of 18 young people who have joined the latest in a series of lawsuits filed on behalf of youth who are struggling with the physical and emotional effects of the climate crisis. They accuse the EPA of failing to adequately protect children nationwide from environmental catastrophe, a novel argument in environmental justice. It also claims the agency has discriminated against them by discounting the economic value of their lives and their futures as it decides how to regulate climate pollution.

Genesis B. v. the United States Environmental Protection Agency, filed on their behalf by the nonprofit environmental advocacy group Our Children’s Trust, asks a federal court to hold the EPA accountable for what the plaintiffs consider negligence in violating “their constitutional fundamental right to life and equal protection under the law.” It also seeks clarification on the status of children as a protected legal class in the United States, claiming that environmental regulations typically disregard their specific needs.

"We are experiencing what no one should have to experience,” Avroh, who is identified only by his first name due to his age, said in a statement. "We’re facing constitutional negligence. We’re challenging the EPA’s failure to protect us. The air we breathe has become a casualty of their opposition.”

The EPA has for decades “known that allowing climate pollution would harm children, yet it has intentionally allowed the U.S. to become one of the world’s biggest contributors to climate change,” Our Children’s Trust said in a statement.

Many of the plaintiffs suffer from asthma, which had been linked to toxic exposures. Increasingly severe wildfires throughout the West compound their health issues. That, the suit states, leaves many of them unable to enjoy the same quality of life as their peers, because they cannot pursue the outdoor activities and team sports young people typically enjoy.

Children play catching bugs at a park on July 17, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.

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Tomohiro Ohsumi

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Getty Images

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The EPA, according to attorneys for Our Children’s Trust, has recognized the unique vulnerability of young children to climate change and environmental toxicity. “Children can be at a greater risk to environmental hazards due to unique activity patterns, behaviors, and biology,” the agency’s 2021 Policy on Children’s Health states.

According to the Center for Disease Control, children are immensely more vulnerable to pollution than adults, and not only because of their smaller size. Children consume more food and water per body weight than adults, they more often touch their eyes and mouths, and their bodies are not as adept at breaking down pollutants. Particulates like those released during wildfires can cause lasting cognitive impairment. The earlier in life, and the more repeatedly, toxic exposure occurs, the more likely a person is to develop chronic health issues and deadly diseases like cancer. It’s also a leading cause of childhood mortality; in 2016, 600,000 deaths of people younger than 15 were attributed to air pollution.

This is not the first time a federal lawsuit has revolved around children — that is, after all, how the groundbreaking desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education was structured. It’s also not the first environmental lawsuit against the EPA, but it is unique in that its language focuses on the particular environmental vulnerability of children.

“Analysis like equal rights or due process [is] very oriented toward adults,” said Phil Gregory, a lawyer working with Our Children’s Trust on the case. Gregory refers to the EPA’s analysis of environmental harm as a “discount-rate analysis” — adults take the highest priority, with children and future generations largely an afterthought.

This approach may have some international backing; the U.N. recently affirmed children’s right to a clean, healthful environment, in line with international human rights law.

Last June, in the similar case Held v. Montana, 16 youth accused the state of Montana, through its fervent support of the fossil fuel industry, of violating the state constitution’s provision that all residents have an inalienable right to a clean and healthy environment. The kids won in a historic first. In August, 14 youth in Hawaiʻi suing the state Department of Transportation on similar grounds learned that the case will go to trial. These successes leave Gregory hopeful that precedents are being set — with more lawsuits running concurrently in Utah, Virginia, and Florida.

The judge in the Held case issued a declaratory judgment calling the government’s conduct unconstitutional. Gregory hopes to see a similar judgment against the EPA, which the suit alleges has presided over a massive increase in fossil fuel pollution during its 50-year tenure and, thus, has failed future generations.

Michael Burger, a law professor at Columbia University, said that is a thorny question for the EPA, which is subject to changes in administration, and is, he said, “severely constrained by the Supreme Court.” However, he is hopeful that such a judgment, while not an injunction or other more forceful maneuver, could push government toward action. “I don’t think it’s just symbolic,” said Burger. “I think a declaration of what the law is and where the government is falling short would be a great deal on many fronts.”

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.